Behind the scenes at NY's MTV studio

MTV studios in Times Square had a high-school reunion vibe Tuesday night for the season finales of The Hills and The City. I spent the night backstage watching these kings and queens of self-promotion in all their realness. What you see on TV is not really what you get.
First observation: The girls are really skinny. Much more than what you see on television. “I’m so excited to see them in real life, but I’m shocked to see how tiny they are,” said Canadian fan Victoria Masson, 24. “I mean they are skin and bones — especially (The City’s) Olivia (Palermo),” added the probation officer from Mississauga, Ont., who won a contest with the prize of tickets to the New York taping of the big finales. While Dan Levy and Jessi Cruickshank from MTV Canada’s The After Show were hosting the TV event, the glittery stars waited backstage, texted, exchanged many hugs and high fives. I tried to keep up with all of their complicated and dramatic relationships, but really you have to be a die-hard fan to keep up with it all.
I can say that Audrina Patridge is the sweet one, Olivia Palermo is the socialite and Whitney Port the serious one. It was quite interesting to observe the publicists doing their best maneuvres to avoid having these reality TV divas in the same room together.
Heidi Montag’s sister, Holly, was dancing all around. Stacie the bartender screamed — “You’re a bitch” — to Kristin Cavallari while she was doing an interview. Brody Jenner gave a fan a private sneak peek at one of his tattoos and shouted, “Look at those legs!”, to Whitney Port when she came in the green room. I ended up in Audrina’s (the only brunette on The Hills) dressing room. Sitting on a stool, she was ready to brave the media with the ultimate question — What are you wearing? She had all the designers names in her cellphone.
“It’s chilly here,” said the California girl about New York’s weather.
“It really feels like a reunion tonight. We stopped filming a month ago and most of us haven’t seen each other since.” Audrina said she changed a lot this season.
“I feel like I matured. I saw an episode from the first season with my mom recently and I was like oh my god — I feel like I have really grown up, I went through things that made me stronger. When there is a red flag in a relationship — get out!” she warned me.
Audrina will soon have her own reality show. She already has started filming.
“It’s me outside of The Hills bubble, the real me, my family, my best friends that I grew up with, I’m bringing the cameras with me. There will be no pretty lighting — it’s gonna be really raw and real.” Not even makeup?
“I mean me, I don’t always wear makeup anyways, it’s not gonna be a perfect picture.” Are you really different than the Audrina we see on The Hills?
“Well, I feel like I’m more assertive, more witty and funny, so my fans will get to see that other side of me other than just being sad and hurt all the time,” said the reality star who also plans on doing more movies. “That’s why I moved to L.A.” I also caught up with the star of The City, Whitney Port, sporting some tiny shorty shorts. After a year an a half in New York, she now calls the city home.
“I think I adapted. I’m happy here, I made it a home, I have my local spots. I knew when I was growing up and being a teenager that New York was always a place I wanted to be. I don’t know if I’ll be here forever. I take everything day by day.”
Whitney enjoys not having paparazzi following her around.
“It’s not like in L.A. I see them all day long, but they are not as much in your face in New York.” She is also more comfortable with her public status.
“I’ve been doing reality TV for four years now, I don’t hold back as much. At first, I had a very thick filter on everything I said.”
Whitney says that what you see on television is different from her real persona.
“It is a little more tainted version of myself. I think that I come off a little bit quiet and blank and just living my life through other people’s eyes.”
And last but not least, Olivia Palermo — the “snob socialite” from The City. “It’s my job you know, I have a camera in my face when I show up to work. In the beginning it was a little bit tricky but now I’m used to it,” she said, standing in the doorway of her dressing room, about her new life in the public eye. Are you really like your TV character?
“It’s hard because you only see a few minutes from a week — it’s not a real perception of who I am. I don’t think I’m that tough — but that’s just being a New Yorker, you have a toughness about you. Having said that, I’m there to do a good television show.”
credit - Marie-Joelle Parent @ torontosun.com